


The Catch of Her Hook

by ATMachine (orphan_account)



Category: The Sandman (Comics)
Genre: Character Death, Gen, Incest, Sibling Incest
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-07-21
Updated: 2017-07-21
Packaged: 2018-12-04 20:34:01
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 573
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/11562831
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/orphan_account/pseuds/ATMachine
Summary: As Dream well knows, a story can be told more than one way.





	The Catch of Her Hook

Dream is a liar.

First: there were three gods that he and his lover Alianora battled for control of the Dreaming, eons ago. Not two.

Second: it was not one of those gods who wielded the whip that left its scar on Alianora’s cheek. It was Dream himself, during their final argument.

It was shortly afterward that Alianora, in the throes of Despair, killed herself.

Dream’s grief was great. But his anger and pride were also great, and he would not admit that he himself was at sole fault.

And he wanted revenge.

He went to his gallery, and summoned his sister Despair, saying that he needed to speak with her. Unsuspecting of the trap, she came, alone and unarmed, into Dream’s realm.

Dream led her to the lifeless body of Alianora.

_You did this_ , he said.

_I do not deny it_ , she replied. _She has been living in my realm for many months now, in her head. My ring had its barbs fixed deep in her mind. All it took to send her over the edge was the sting of the whip in your hand._

_Then you shall join her in our sister’s realm_ , Dream said.

And then Dream of the Endless killed his sister Despair.

Death came to take her sister, and she laughed.

_Silly, foolish Dream_ , she said. _Did you really think you could kill any one of us forever? We are eternal. Even now a new Despair rises to take the place of the old._

And indeed, as she spoke, the corpse of Alianora rose, and as it did it assumed the aspect of Despair.

There were differences, of course. The new Despair lacked the tattoos of her predecessor, and she had fangs protruding from her jaw.

But she had the form of Despair, and her way of moving, and she bent to retrieve the barbed signet ring from the body of her predecessor.

_Alianora?_ asked Dream.

_No_ , said Despair. _Not any more. What was mortal of Alianora has passed away; what was immortal has been… transfigured. I am Despair._

_See how stupid you are, brother_ , said Death. Y _ou sought revenge for the death of your little mortal lover, and instead you condemned her to an eternity of existence._

_As you are also doomed to. As are we all._

_Perhaps_ , said Dream. _But do not be so haughty, my sister. There are many ways to die._

And then Dream killed Death… but not in the way she expected.

When the funeral rites for Despair were over (and the necropolis Litharge had received its charter, but that is another story), the Council of the First Circle met. After long deliberation, it decided that to prevent a like occurrence in the future, the Endless must be forbidden from loving mortals.

But the decrees of the Makers are not always followed… nor are they always wise.

And from that day when Despair was slain, Death’s manner changed.

No longer was she the haughty reaper feared by worlds upon worlds, who saw mortal beings as petty creatures whose fleeting lives meant nothing. Now she learned to care for those under her charge, to value their finite existences as things unique and special.

The First Circle had decreed, long ago, that in order to understand mortals, Death must spend one day among them every hundred years.

But Death had never really appreciated mortal life until she spent a night with her brother Dream.


End file.
